CG's June 2009 'Click It'

Blackberry Recipes

Blackberry Walnut Bars
by Rita Pelczar

If you can refrain from eating all of your blackberries as soon as you pick them, try using a few in this delicious recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Here's a list of some plants that work great in the Carolinas.

Filling:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 2 cups blackberries (washed and drained)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon backing powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine 2 cups of flour, powdered sugar and butter and press into the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle with blackberries and walnuts.

Beat eggs and sugar, then add salt, baking powder, remaining flour and vanilla. Pour over the berries on nuts and bake for another 30-35 minutes. When cooled, drizzle with glaze (recipe below).

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Combine ingredients until smooth and drizzle over cooled bars.

Quick Blackberry Cobbler

Ingrdients:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 4-1/2 cups of blackberries
• 1 stick of butter
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of sugar, for top of cobbler
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Nutmeg (optional)

Sift together the flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in your oven in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan.

Pour in the dry ingredients and milk to make batter.

Distribute the berries evenly on top. Do not stir.

Distribute 1/2 cup of sugar on top.

If desired, sprinkle cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until done. From BlackberryRecipes.net

Blackberry Summer Salad

Canned Blackberries is used for this, however you can also use fresh if you want, but you will need syrup for the dressing.

• 16oz Blackberries
• 2 medium Nectarines or Peaches - pared and/ or sliced to your preference
• 2 medium Kiwi - diced
• 6 Pineapple rounds
• 1 Honeydew melon - sliced and diced
• 2 bananas peeled and sliced
• Lettuce leaves for the bed

I have used two different ways for the preparation of this. Either place all the fruits into a bowl and mix gently then place on top of the lettuce leaves or place fruit directly onto the lettuce leaves. Once the fruit is on the lettuce leaves use the syrup as a dressing.

Blackberry Yogurt Dressing

Extended Gardenscapes

Viewing the Rocky Shoals Spiderlily

Jack Horan is more than just a gardener and plant lover. He is also an avid outdoorsman, who has written and edited works about paddling and hiking in the Carolinas. It was while on one of those adventures that he experienced the beauty of the Rocky Shoals spiderlily, where he became interested further. The following is additional information by Jack about getting to the places to view the spiderlily, and a little on its background.

Landsford Canal State Park on the Catawba River in South Carolina is one of the closest places for Carolina gardeners to view this flower. You can choose to paddle out on the river yourself, or view the beautiful flowers from a deck.

The plant, a member of the amaryllis family and not a true lily, was first described by naturalist William Bartram in June of 1773. While exploring the shoals on the Savannah River at Augusta, Ga., Bartram wrote said that "nothing in vegetable nature was more pleasing than the odoriferous (lily), which almost alone possess the little rocky islets which just appear above the water," as quoted in "A Guide to Wildflowers of South Carolina."

"Emerging from within the circular corona is the pistil, which contains the ovary at its base and which will form the seed to produce future spider lilies," according to the book "Spider Lilies," published by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation in Columbia.

Book Review: Down to Earth by Margot Rochester

It's somewhat ironic that Margot's posthumously published book is titled Down to Earth. Even though we lost a great gardener and kindred spirit last October, her passion for gardening lives on as she continues to tell us to enjoy gardening, every aspect of it. As her friend and fellow gardener, Helen Yoest, said in her blog, "God needed a gardener, so He called Margot." She was wonderfully talented at her chosen passion, and kept a level head about things in a way that led to many admirers in the gardening world. I'm sure that even in Heaven, she's keeping the gardening practical and fun.

That's exactly what she conveys in Down to Earth, the latest book of essays published by Margot. Reading these essays is like sitting down and talking to your best friend. She's full of good advice, and even sometimes tells you what you don't want to hear.

"If a plant's not working, pull it up. Life is short and replacements are plentiful." It's hard for some of us plant lovers to accept, but that's the beauty of Margot's writing, she tells the truth, but tells it in a way that we're reading along saying, "that's so true."

Woven within Margot's fun-to-read essays is some great gardening advice. She's a woman who practiced organic gardening before it became the trendy thing to do. She gardens for fun so she's always finding ways to make it more fun and less work, whether it's deciding not to hoe, or planting deer-resistant plants rather than trying to figure out ways to keep the deer away from plants they love to eat.

She's also one who has found gardening is not only good for your body, but good for the soul. Each chapter ends with some sage advice on living well, proving just how gardening can affect every aspect of our lives.

As you get ready to start the busy season of gardening, pick up a copy of Down to Earth. It will not only bring you plenty of inspiration, but might also give you some new things to try in your own garden this year.

Down to Earth is published by Taylor Trade Publishing and is available in both hardcover and paperback. You can find it at your neighborhood book store, or online at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.